The Victim of Prejudice was published in 1799 and is the second novel written by author Mary Hays. The novel’s main character is Mary Raymond and follows her throughout her life to show the trials and tribulations that she is forced to face because of her “rank” in society. Not only because she is the illegitimate child of a prostitute and murderer, but also because she is a woman. She is taken in and kept safe by Mr. Raymond on his estate, but that could only last for so long. As she ventures from the Edenic safety of the estate and as she grows older, Mary seems to be haunted by Sir Peter Osborne who continuously appears in her life at her most vulnerable moments. Osborne eventually rapes Mary, but regardless of his violation, Mary maintains that her “virtue” is in her mind and not her body. Whatever she believed personally, she ultimately comes to see how the social structures and laws that surrounded her dictated her “virtue” and her fate from the moment she was born.
The Victim of Prejudice grapples with an assortment of social and political issues that women faced in England in the 18th century and was extremely controversial because it vividly showed the reality for many women who could not find a traditional place in society. The controversy wasn’t just for depicting reality, but also because of the focus the novel puts on the role that man-made laws played in creating these political and social issues for women at the time. After Mary is ‘brutally violated’, she has no recourse, legal or otherwise and Osborne is free to carry on existing without any consequences. She can’t even make him pay in the court of public opinion because his status as a male landowner and society's prejudice against women will lead to them taking his side in a ‘he said she said’ situation. The novel is meant to be a reflection of a stark reality in the hopes of promoting change. While many of the legal frameworks around sexual violence have changed in the last 200+ years, many of the prejudices, both legal and social, remain; That might be why Hays’ writing is still seen as relevant to feminist discourse today. Mary Hays’ thinking was incredibly ahead of her time and she was an early outspoken proponent for feminist ideals, such as recognizing the moral and rational qualities of women, creating jobs for women without money, and a better education system for women and girls.
Plot summary
The novel opens with the narrator Mary Raymond writing an account of her life from prison with a plea for God's mercy and for the reader to acknowledge her position as an innocent victim of misfortune.
The story begins with her childhood. She is an orphan being raised by Mr. Raymond, a tutor, in a country village in the county of Monmouthshire. She leads a happy and healthy childhood doing things like bareback horse riding, tree climbing, wrestling other children, and dancing. Her guardian also provides her the same robust education that he provides to the boys he tutors, which she enjoys and excels at.
When she is eleven, Mr. Raymond is hired by his friend Mr. Pelham to tutor two boys, William and Edmund. Mary quickly becomes fond of William, and William uses her affections to convince her to steal grapes for him from the garden of the neighbor Sir Peter Osborne. While in the garden she is found and grabbed by Sir Osborne who insists he must kiss her in exchange for the fruit. Mary escapes before he can follow through on the threat. He later does follow through when he forcibly kisses her after she and Willam protect a rabbit from his hunting party, only letting her go when William uses the whip against him.
The Pelham boys and Mary continue their education and close friendship until Mary is seventeen at which Mr. Raymond tells Mary he is sending her away since now she is older must relinquish her fondness for William and be separated from him because the two could never marry due to the gap in their social positions. He insists that William will become "man of the world" and will find connection with Mary humiliating. Mary is devastated by the idea of separation but agrees to obey her guardian's wishes.
Mr. Raymond takes her to live with his friend Mr. Neville and his wife Mrs. Neville in their home by the coast. One day she stands by the sea lost in thought and does not notice when the tide rises until she finds herself trapped in the water. She is rescued and when she realizes that Sir Osborne is her rescuer, she is terrified and begs him not to feel entitled to treat her with "insult" and allow her to the Neville home in peace, which he does.
Weeks later, William visits Mary. He declares his love for her and that he would never agree to marry anyone but her. He becomes offended when Mary explains why her guardian separated them.Mary writes a letter to Mr. Raymond stating that she loves William but will renounce him if she deems it the virtuous thing to do.
Mary then receives a letter from Mr. Raymond explaining the story of her mother, whom Mr. Raymond had once proposed marriage to. She declined and fell in love with another man instead, and Mr. Raymond went on a foreign tour. Five years later he saw her, looking haggard, with a ruffian at the scene of a stabbing murder in a tavern of dubious reputation. She and the ruffian were arrested for the murder. From prison she wrote a letter to Mr. Raymond described how his rival had, through her inexperience and naivete, seduced her, leading to her bearing a baby girl. She then, out of desperation, turned to selling her body to support herself and became the accomplice to the murder. She asked Mr. Raymond to care for her daughter, which he accepted. Mary struggles to come to terms with this information. William tries to comfort her but Mary is inconsolable realizing that she could only bring William social disgrace if he married her. He insists he still wants to marry her. He then leaves for London and is eventually sent to the continent by his father.
Soon after, the Nevilles receive word that the rector that Mr. Neville served as a curate under and who has provided their housing has died, and that the Nevilles must leave their cottage within a week. Sir Osborn has taken possession of the rectory and its properties. The Nevilles move and have lost their source of income, and Mary returns to Mr. Raymond. She feels responsible for the predicament of the Nevilles and asks her guardian to help them. He tells her that the only way he can assist them would be to give them her inheritance, meaning she would have to work to support herself after his death. Mary agrees to these terms.
Later, Mary receives an offer of marriage from a neighboring farmer. She declines, not wanting to marry anyone but William. Mr. Raymond tells her she is being foolish in turning down future security for a man who is being exposed to corruptions of the world. Mary becomes perturbed by the idea that William has likely been unfaithful to her while on his travels.
Mr. Raymond dies, leaving Mary only a letter of introduction for a position assisting in managing the home of a friend and his wife in London. After mourning her guardian she prepares to leave, but two days before she departs Mr. Osborne approaches her, beginning to offer his protection to her now that she is alone. Mary stops him and tells him to leave. She also receives a letter from William announcing that become engaged to another woman, which emotionally devastates her.
Mary travels to London and arrives at her destination, only to find the job offer was a ruse when Osborne enters her room that night. He says he had to trick her to get her to come due to her naivete and affections for William and again offers her protection and control of the house. Mary declines, and Osborne has her locked away in a back-chamber of the house.
Mary eventually takes the key from the maid attending to her and begins to escape until she gets caught on the stairway by a drunken Osborne and he assaults her. After it is over, she demands on being let go. He tells her that her reputation will be ruined and she now has no prospects in society, while she maintains that she did nothing wrong and her virtue cannot be stolen from her in this manner. Osborn, angry, relents and tells her to leave.
Mary, feeling ill from her ordeal, immediately encounters William. He notices her haggard condition and she explains what has happened. He brings her to a nearby hotel to recover for three weeks while she suffers flashbacks of the assault and recalls the fate of her mother. When she has regained herself, William suggests that she become his mistress and allow him to provide for her. She refuses, saying "it is virtue only that I love better than William Pelham". He calls her destiny "severe" and gives her a ten-pound note.
The next morning she writes him a note and finds an apartment to live in. She meets with the landlady, who ask if she has lived anywhere else in London. Mary recounts again what has happened since her arrival in the city, and the landlady offers the service of her husband in seeking legal redress, but warns that her case would be difficult to prove in court. While living in this apartment, Mary takes on credit for clothing and other immediate necessities, having left her belongings behind at Osborne's. The landlady contacts Mr. Pelham for verification of Mary's story. Mr. Pelham accuses Mary of attempting to seduce William, and she gets evicted from the apartment.
On her own and in debt, Mary works for a while drawing plants at a print shop. One day, her employer makes an advance on her while she works, citing Osborne and William Pelham. Mary runs away from the shop and realizes that the story of her time at Osborne's has gotten out and her reputation is indeed altered. She fails to get any more artistic work and turns her attention to attempting to get domestic work. She nearly obtains a paid companionship position with a young lady about to travel, then gets rejected at the last moment.
Unable to work and in debt, Mary is arrested and taken to be detained in the house of a sheriff's officer. When she says that there is no one to give her bail, the officer tells her there is someone willing to bail her out. She is terrified to discover it is Osborne and declares she would rather go to prison. He claims love for her and regret for his actions, saying that he will give her a future and affluence, an offer she vehemently refuses and he leaves her to the processes of the law.
She is taken to prison and is visited by Mr. Raymond's former servant James, who had in the past acted in opposition to Osborne. He offers to take on her debt and work it off, but she turns down his offer. When he asks she tells him what has happened to her and James is outraged, becoming the only one to affirm Mary's innocence. He secures her freedom and reveals that he has started a small farm on land rented from Sir Osborne. She moves back into her childhood home and works keeping records for James' farm.
Six months later, Mary is in the village after getting a loan from the bank for the farm, she encounters Osborne and his hunting party again while she is caring for an injured child, and he prevents her from stumbling in shock. His companions get water for her and they leave. Osborne sends her letters, which she ignores.
James dies, leaving Mary yet again alone, and Osborne again approaches her. He offers his condolences for her loss and offers her marriage, which she once again refuses, telling him to leave her to her fate. He tells her the next morning he will be leaving to take a months-long voyage to the western islands and hopes by his return she will reconsider.